Travel: In living color, the tulips of Skagit Valley

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Yellow tulips glow in the morning light in the Skagit Valley near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors take a selfie as others wander the tulip fields at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Red tulips glow in the morning light in the Skagit Valley near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Rows of purple tulips stretch nearly as far as the eye can see in the Skagit Valley near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Traffic is stopped for visitors to cross to the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A stray yellow tulip stands out among the rows of red tulips at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Yellow tulips glow in the morning light in the Skagit Valley near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors stand in line to enter the tulip fields at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A couple takes a selfie near the rows of purple tulips during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A visitor takes among the red tulips at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

As snow covers the nearby mountains, visitors wander the tulip fields at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A visitor has her photo taken among the rows of red tulips at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

With their mud boots on, a family makes their way to the tulip fields at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Various colors of tulips fill garden at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors pose for photos in the garden of tulips and other flowers at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors take photos among the many rows of yellow tulips in the Skagit Valley near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A sign in the garden at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rows of red tulips glow in the morning light in the Skagit Valley near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rows of red and yellow tulips bloom in the Skagit Valley near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A visitor takes photos in the garden at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors wander the tulip fields at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Signs point the way for visitors to see the tulips during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. RoozenGaarde is one of the tulip farms in the area. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A roadside tulip stand selling tulips for $5.00 a bunch during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rows of red and yellow tulips bloom in the Skagit Valley near Mount Vernon, Washington. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors have their photo taken under a sign near the tulip fields at the RoozenGaarde tulip farm during the 2018 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival near Mount Vernon, Washington. The festival is held each year during the month of April. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

It just happened to be a sunny, spring, weekday morning as we turned off the I-5 freeway in a rural valley outside of Mt. Vernon, Washington, a couple hours north of Seattle, and made our way along a two-lane country back road. A couple of miles after the turnoff, we passed a small sign reading “Tulip Route.” I knew the colorful fields of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival would soon be upon us.

The brief research I had done and photographs I had seen, had drawn me to make the trip with my sister, who lives in the Seattle area, along with a family friend. But coming upon the farms with fields full of row after row of bright red, yellow, orange and purple tulips, as well as many other colors, really leaves one speechless. “Wow,” just doesn’t seem to do it justice and at first glance, it almost doesn’t seem to be real.

We pulled into one of the last parking spots during a stop at the RoozenGaarde/Washington Bulb Co., Inc. fields, one of the growers in the area. A crossing guard held up traffic as hundreds of visitors made their way across the road to the gardens and colorful fields. Of course, nearly everyone had a camera. It was after all, the ultimate selfie location.

The nearby mountains were still covered in snow and the fields a little on the muddy side following a record winter-into-spring rainfall. Many wore rubber boots as they wandered about, though one child went one step further, complete with a rain coat and pants, he stomped in a mud puddle to his heart’s delight at the edge of the field.

After a few hours of walking, viewing, and making more than enough photographs of flowers than one should, we were all in color overload. It was time to hit the road for home, and for those who weren’t driving, share a few of the best photographs with far away friends.

Mark Rightmire had his first photograph published in his hometown newspaper in Athens, Ohio, at the age of 12. A graduate of the Visual Communication program at Ohio University, he has been a staff photographer at The Orange County Register for over three decades, documenting the people, places, and landscapes of Orange County. Assignments have also taken him beyond the boarders of O.C. From Auckland, New Zealand to Dublin, Ireland; Disneyland to the Atlantic City Boardwalk; from the French Quarter of New Orleans to Pike Place Market in Seattle; the Stanley Cup Finals in Ottawa and NYC, to the America’s Cup in San Francisco and San Diego. In 2014 he traveled to Russia to cover the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. A love for the outdoors often reflects in his photography.